"....The staff is sick and tired of the impunity extended by the office of the Secretary-General to senior managers for their failings especially in situations where it has led to death and disability....."
- UN Staff Union

Saturday, July 24, 2010

New North Korean Leader Could Rule By September

As N. Korea rattles its saber at the U.S., American intel agents are racing to learn more about Kim Jong Un, who may succeed his ailing father as leader within weeks. Philip Shenon reports on the wave of executions that has Korea watchers on edge.

The CIA is scrambling to gather every scrap of information it can find on the youngest son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il in the belief that the Swiss-educated, Hollywood-loving, Nike-wearing son could take over for his ailing father within weeks, American officials say.

They tell The Daily Beast the recent execution of three top Pyongyang officials—a former top negotiator with South Korea and two senior economic officials, all killed by firing squad—suggests brutal internal maneuvering ahead of the succession of “Beloved Comrade” Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s and just as ruthless as his father.

North Korea’s stepped-up belligerence toward the outside world, including the sinking of a South Korean warship in March and today’s threat of a military response to joint U.S.-South Korea war games this weekend, are almost certainly linked in some way to the succession, these officials say.

Given consistent reports that 69-year-old “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il is gravely ill and often incoherent in the wake of a 2008 stroke, “this kid may have his finger on the button before we know it,” said an American diplomat who has been involved in the past in talks with North Korea about its nuclear arsenal.

He said the CIA and other Western agencies believe the succession will be formally announced—and may take effect immediately—during a rare meeting this September of the ruling Workers Party.

That raises the prospect that the U.S. will soon be confronted with a nuclear-armed North Korea led by an untested, even unsteady young man who is mostly a mystery to Western intelligence agencies.

It is an embarrassment to spy agencies that they can neither produce a recent photo of Kim Jong Un that they are convinced is authentic nor provide his exact birthdate.

They have information about his teenage years at a Swiss boarding school, which he attended under a false name, but that information dates back to before 1998, when he abruptly returned home to North Korea.

American officials acknowledge reluctantly that some of the best information they have about the younger Kim comes from a Japanese sushi chef who worked for the Kim family in the 1990s.

The chef, now back home in Japan and willing to sell his story to any reporter or spy able to pay, has described the younger Kim as ambitious and short-tempered—“a chip off the old block” who was his father’s only obvious successor.

Kim Jong Il’s oldest son, Kim Jong Nam, is a bling-wearing gambler who embarrassed his father with his detention in Japan after trying to use a phony passport to enter the country to visit Tokyo Disneyland. According to the sushi chef, the second son is sickly and perceived to be too effeminate to lead the country.

The American diplomat acknowledged frustration within the diplomatic corps. saying, “We are on the verge of a total changeover in the leadership of North Korea—and yet, Mel Gibson and his mistress are the big story for most of you guys in the media.”

Korea-watchers in the U.S. say the signs are unmistakable that Kim Jong Un is his father’s chosen successor—and that there is special danger for the U.S. and its allies in the selection of such an unproved young man.

“This is a 27- or 28-year-old kid who has no revolutionary credentials, no leadership credentials, no party credentials,” said Evans Revere, former president of the Korea Society and a top American diplomat in South Korea during the Bush administration.

“But the finger has clearly been pointed at him as the successor. And it’s now a matter of packaging it, selling it.”

Revere said he thought the recent executions in Pyongyang suggested “ferment inside North Korea” that could be related to the handover—an effort by Kim Jong Il and others to intimidate anyone else who might try to grab power during the transition.

“This may be the regime trying to send a message, trying to tighten up things ahead of the succession,” said Revere, who is now a director of Albright Stonebridge, an international consulting firm founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Jae H. Ku, director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said there was a stark contrast between this transition of power and the one that occurred when Kim Jong Il took command after the 1994 death of his father—“Great Leader” Kim Il Sung, the nation’s founder.

Ku said the “Dear Leader” was “groomed for the job over a good 20 years” and had solidified his power by the time of his father’s death.

“Now we have a person who has been groomed for the job in less than two or three years,” he said of the Dear-Leader-in-Waiting, Kim Jong Un. “It’s amazing—we know so little about this guy. We have so little to work with.”

UNDP's Free Speech Concept

This is what pro-poor means at United Nations

United Nations Development Millionaires !

637 UNDP Staffers are Millionaires, and another 1041 UNDP staffers have enough salary (income) to justify million dollar homes in New York (or tri-state area NY/NJ/CT).

UN/UNDP's budgets are untransparent !

U.N. budget is “utterly opaque, untransparent and completely in the shadow” and would benefit from being consolidated and audited from the outside. MMB from NyTimes

JOSE RAMOS HORTA - PRESIDENT OF EAST TIMOR

‘‘You know how many layers of bureaucracy there are when the European Union wants to help East Timor? Well, they don’t provide the funds to us, the funds allocated are managed by world bank. And the world bank has its own layers of bureaucracy. And they charge for that. The project is then managed by UNDP. But UNDP is only good at doing studies, they don’t execute projects.’‘

Boutros Boutros-Ghali on UN:

"perhaps half of the UN work force does nothing useful"

Can Helen Clark be trusted on Climate Change ?

President Obama's answer to Helen Clark's appeal for US to do more on climate change was : "I think the American people right now have been so focused, and will continue to be focused, on our economy and jobs and growth that ... if the message is somehow, we're going to ignore jobs and growth simply to address climate change, I don't think anybody's gonna go for that," he said. "I won't go for that."

In 2011 Rami Makhlouf - a trusted development partner of UNDP in Syria

In 2008 U.S. Treasury designation: Rami Makhluf Designated for Benefiting from Syrian Corruption (Click on photo to see US Treasury page)

"Screwed" How Foreign Countries Are Ripping America Off

A full chapter (7) dedicated to UNDP and UN Secretariat. But it today at Amazon.com (click above picture)

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Asma al-Assad is UNDP's champion of reform in Syria

UNDP's special relations with dictators and terror is well documented. Yet, they continue to operate covered by UN Immunity. Click on immage for story.

Aicha Gaddafi You are Fired !

UNDP continues to be in bed with other dictators. Will clean it one at a time.

Where is NETAID money David Morrison?

UNDP Transparency Censored

UNDP Chief Finance Officer

The UNDP is a secretive organization and so far has kept in the dark every information related to its Chief Finance Officer and Deputy Assistant Administrator, Mr. Darshak Shah. Click on the picture for more on Finance Office of UNDP.

UNDP Belarus - best breast corner

Should tax-payers dollars be used to photograph beautiful breasts - even when making a valid point?

Uncle Helen turning UNDP into a cove of corrupt NZ labour politicians

CLICK ON PICTURE TO SEE Chris Carter's latest Credit Card scandal - can he work at UNDP after that? It seems YES he is full tested!!

Helen Clark says: "No more cars"

Thinking about buying a new car this year? Why, you evil Westerner! You don’t need that. You are demanding your new car off the sweat, toil, and exploitation of the world’s poorest people in developing countries.

Happy Valentines Day !

Andrew Mitchell - says Helen Clark is up to no good!

1. UNDP’s partnership with the World Bank needs to be more effective, particularly in fragile and crisis-affected countries. 2. UNDP’s near universal mandate means its technical resources are spread very thinly. The Board does not provide strategic direction. HR management is weak. It has a weak results chain. 3. There is limited evidence of active senior management consideration of cost control. Country evidence points to mixed progress on demonstrating cost-efficiency. 4. The Executive Board is politicised and there is a lack of consensus on the key areas for reform. It is not clear that current plans for change will deliver the required depth and breadth of reform. 5. Evidence gathered at country level was highly critical of UNDP’s ability to deliver results. Its delivery can be undermined by staffing issues and bureaucratic processes. 6. Its performance in fragile states is mixed. It has reasonable training and a range of guidance and analytical tools but struggles to fill posts. 7. There is no evidence that the Climate Strategy was directly guiding resource allocation decisions

Mark Malloch Brown outraged over Aicha Gaddafi

“I hope she's not a UNDP Ambassador,” ...“I don't think it's UNDP. I was surprised when I saw that... she was an Ambassador to any part of the UN system.”

Travel Palestine - Rediscover Your Senses

Get ready to a sensual feast of ...sounds...scents of The Land of حماس‎ Ḥamās Documentary sponsored by UNDP Funds (click on picture for video)

Helen Clark on UNDP's own corruption (Can she be trusted?)

“When funds intended for life-saving treatment and prevention are stolen, that theft is tantamount to murder.” CLICK ON PICTURE FOR MORE

Scandal in Rwanda with Human Development Report

Aurelien Agbenonci, UNDP's RR in Kigali accuses Khalid Malik of making up data without UNDP Rwanda's knowledge. Rwanda Government is unhappy !!!

H.E. Dirk Niebel - German Development Minister

"I take the accusations made in the media concerning corruption and breach of fiduciary duty at the Global Fund very seriously and I am sure that the Fund will clarify the matter without delay. Germany is one of the biggest donors to the Global Fund. I have therefore seen to it that a special review will be held. I have frozen all further disbursements to the Fund until matters have been fully clarified, and I will ask a representative of the Fund to come to the BMZ to discuss the matter."

US Amb. Joseph Torsella blows the whistle on UN budgets

U.N. Secretariat’s proposed $5.2 “regular” budget for 2012-2013, was “simply loosening our belt a little less than we originally planned.”

The U.N. Exposed

How the United Nations Sabotages America's Security and Fails the World (Click in picture to purchase the book)

Share now information about illegal dealings at United Nations

If you are in possession of UNDP or any other United Nations Agency' contracts, correspondence, financial records or databases, which you believe detail wrongdoing such as fraud, mismanagement and abuse of authority, and you have failed to have UN's internal control, oversight and justice systems respond and/or react to your claims, you can send them to UNDP-WATCH and we will make them public keeping your identity anonymous and confidential.

Send an email to: undpwatchmeister@gmail.com

Helen Clark is watching you!

Gaddafi aint got nothing on UNDP - Click on the picture for more!

Malakia: A Turk advises Greece on Economy

Kemal Dervis (Turkish) and George Papandreou (Greek) share many late-night phone calls together (Click on picture to read story)

Where does Ban stand on Libya?

C'est vraiment ce que tu veux pour ta carriere?

Because UNDT is the first level of the UN’s two-tiered justice system, there is a possibility that this decision may be appealed. Hopefully, the Secretary-General will not be “absurd” enough to do so. Click above to go to GAP page.

Andrew Mitchell Demands Transparency from United Nations

And I promise you as well that in future, when it comes to international development, we will want to see hard evidence of the impact your money makes. Not just dense and impenetrable budget lines but clear evidence of real effect

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT UNITED NATIONS

Ban Ki Moon supports Ethics Decision on UNDP North Korea

Question: He recommends strongly that UNDP pays 14 months back pay to the whistleblower. Does the Secretary-General stand behind that recommendation? Should UNDP in fact pay that money, or are they free to rebuff that recommendation? Spokesperson: We will see what is going to happen. The Secretary-General of course is behind Mr. Benson on his report. There is no doubt about it. What UNDP will do, we will be seeing this; how they will implement that report.

Resign Now Kemal Dervis!!

In Memoriam to Algiers Victims

About UNDP Watch

UNDP Watch is a grouping of United Nations Staff committed to openness. We believe that everyone has the right to access information held by United Nations.
Despite a stated commitment to openness, UNDP remain a highly secretive agency.
Although a wealth of information is available on some UNDP websites, its Executive Board operate behind closed doors, much important programme and administrative information is never made available and, as a rule, information that is disclosed is provided only after relevant decisions have effectively been taken.
While UNDP has adopted “internal policies” on information disclosure, they in fact operate on precisely the opposite presumption. For the most part, they list which documents will be disclosed and when, and there is a presumption against the disclosure of all the other information they hold. They do not establish right of access, the lists of documents subject to disclosure is limited, they do not set out clear and narrow grounds for refusing access and they do not provide for independent oversight mechanisms to ensure proper implementation of the policy.
The UNDP WATCH is calling for the complete overhaul of these policies.

Speak out on Herfkens Corruption

U-Seek (UN Staff Union Initiative)

"...We believe that without accountability, there is impunity. We ask that you (Secretary General) not be complicit in cover-up of what happened prior to 11 Dec attack. The staff is sick and tired of the impunity extended by the office of the Secretary-General to senior managers for their failings especially in situations where it has led to death and disability."